Use this guide to quickly find reputable sources and save time on your research! Contact your subject librarian or the reference librarians if you need more help. For an overview of how to research efficiently, see Steps of the Research Process.

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Finding Materials in the Library

Search CityCat to find books, e-books, disks and more. There are many ways to search, such as Title, Author and Keyword.

Books in the library are organized by call number according to the Library of Congress classification system which groups items by subject, so you can often simply browse the shelves. Here are some relevant subjects and their call numbers:

Subject

Call Number

General Physics

QC1-75

Atomic Physics

QC170-197

Acoustics

QC221-246

Heat & Thermodynamics

QC251-338.5

Optics, Light

QC350-467

Electricity & Magnetism

QC501-766

Nuclear & Particle Physics

QC770-798

Geophysics & Geomagnetism

QC801-849

Meteorology & Climatology

QC851-999

Reference Sources

Reference books are great for short overviews and background information. There are also reference resources in our database section.

Databases

Use databases for specialized and the most up-to-date information, especially academic (scholarly) sources that are not available for free on the Web. See the Articles & Databases page for a full list of databases available.

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Web Sites

Use Web sites for government information, statistics, and current events. It's very important to carefully evaluate Web sites for accuracy, currency, bias and credibility.